2016 – escYOUnitedhttp://escunited.com
Big Fan Community for the Eurovision Song ContestTue, 12 Dec 2017 03:22:42 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1Austria: Cesár Sampson to take centre stage in Lisbon!http://escunited.com/2017/12/05/austria-cesar-sampson-to-take-centre-stage-in-lisbon/
http://escunited.com/2017/12/05/austria-cesar-sampson-to-take-centre-stage-in-lisbon/#respondTue, 05 Dec 2017 18:46:47 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=30767Stepping out of the shadows and into the limelight is always a great feeling for any artist, and many over the years have done so in Eurovision, including Tijana Bogicevic (Serbia) and Imri (Israel) from the Kyiv contest. Now, Austria have confirmed their artist, and ORF have decided to promote one of Bulgaria’s recent backing singers as their main artist… it’s Cesár Sampson for Lisbon!

The performer had previously been a part of the Eurovision experience as one of the Bulgarian backing singers in 2016 and 2017 and as a result already has two top four finishes under his belt.

ORF has also confirmed that the Linz-born singer and producer will have the backing of the team that helped to propel Bulgaria to new heights in the competition, with the songwriting and production crew of “If Love Was A Crime” and “Beautiful Mess” said to be involved in next year’s Austrian entry.

Outside of Eurovision, Sampson has also made a name for himself as a electronic and dance music singer and as a lead performer for acts such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, Sofa Surfers and Louie Austen.

Eberhard Forcher, one of ORF’s main influences on the selection team, has suggested that “with his dark soul voice and a background in both classical gospel and electropop of the present, he has just what he needs to stand out in competition.”

Sampson’s entry for Austria is set to be revealed in February 2018 and will be selected internally.

Sweden’s hero in 2015, Mans Zelmerlow, has announced that he is set to have a “small hero” of his own this evening, and has confirmed on Facebook that he is expecting a baby with his fiancée, British actress Ciara Janson.

The couple began dating last year and got engaged in June of this year. Zelmerlöw has since relocated to the United Kingdom to be with his future wife and begin a family.

Måns is no stranger to Eurovision fans having multiple Melodifestivalen participations, a victory for Sweden and hosting credentials under his belt, and is set to co-host the United Kingdom’s selection show in early 2018 as previously revealed.

We at escYOUnited would like to wish the happy couple our warm congratulations and best wishes for the new arrival to the Zelmerlöw family!

]]>http://escunited.com/2017/12/03/mans-zelmerlow-to-become-a-father/feed/0Belgium: Loïc Nottet and Laura Tesoro release new singleshttp://escunited.com/2017/10/30/belgium-loic-nottet-and-laura-tesoro-release-new-singles/
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 21:39:00 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=30644One of the most promising talents of recent Eurovision contests is the Belgian starlet Loïc Nottet, who has achieved millions of views on YouTube with his songs “Mud Blood”, “Million Eyes”, his covers of Sia’s “Chandelier” and his 2015 Eurovision entry “Rhythm Inside”.

Now, the young Walloon has this evening released the RnB inspired, Halloween-themed single “Doctor”, with an accompanying spooky video. Will it be another huge success for the singer? Only time will tell!

#YOU can watch the video for “Doctor” below and let us know what you think!

Nottet is not the only Belgian Eurovision artist of recent years to release new music. Three days ago, 2016’s Laura Tesoro released a video for her new funky single “Beast”, showing another side to the young performer, which #YOU can also watch below!

Nottet finished 4th in Vienna with “Rhythm Inside”, while Tesoro finished 10th in Stockholm a year later with “What’s the Pressure?”

Which of the two releases do #YOU like the most? Share your thoughts with us below, on our social media channels or on our forum!

Summer time is when most of us go to some Mediterranean location to enjoy the sun and vitamin sea, but for some others it is also a time full of commitments to numerous fans form all across the Europe and world. Several former Eurostars have been really busy in past few days with new releases.

Tell us which song and artist do #YOU like the most and where would #YOU listen to their songs during these hot months.

]]>Why Do We Care About Running Orders?http://escunited.com/2017/04/09/why-do-we-care-about-running-orders/
Sun, 09 Apr 2017 20:14:07 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=29074This editorial is written from the opinion of the author and does not represent the views of the other editors, the EBU or escYOUnited as a whole.

Eurovision has its “facts” when it comes to running order; there are death spots and there are places which make people go “ooo, they’ve got the perfect spot”. Surely success doesn’t depend that much on running order, or does it? It’s a sometimes controversial question; especially since 2013 the running order is decided by the producers as opposed to randomly. Are certain songs having an inadvertent advantage through favourable running order placement, or is it all just hearsay and an excuse for why our favourites don’t make it, or why our less beloved songs make it?

The pros and cons of a song’s place in the running order depend basically on two things; absolute position and the songs either side. As my esteemed colleague Calvin Philips has already covered the latter for this year in his excellent article here, I’ll only be looking at absolute position in this article. Of course, saying “absolute position” leaves a fair few angles to be covered! To be clear, not every semi-final has the same number of songs, so a song performing, for example, 16th could be the final song, the second last, just before a commercial break, or just after one! As a result, I’ll be focussing the analysis on the following four areas: Opening songs, closing songs, either side of commercials and absolute position. Also, I’m only looking at semi-finals from 2010 onwards (the era of two semi-finals where both jury and televote points counted towards the qualifiers). A small point to bear in mind before we begin: Over this period there have been 241 songs in semi-finals and 140 have qualified, so the “average” place should have a success rate of 58%.

So we shall begin with the opening songs (by which I mean the first four). Whilst second in the running order is often seen as the unlucky spot, here it is actually third which is the spot of doom! Only 29% of songs have qualified from here, although the general trend for the first few songs is that it’s not a great place to be. Even opening the show gives you only a 50:50 chance of making it. It seems somewhat surprising that going early is actually a disadvantage, but maybe it shows with 18-19 song semi-finals that the ability of the audience to remember the earlier songs is somewhat lacking, and so they suffer from being forgotten by the time voting comes around.

At the opposite end of the show, things are rather different. In fact, closing the show is the best place to be in the semi! Only one song has failed to qualify from that spot (Moje 3 in 2013, and even they came 11th) in the period of interest and over half have been in the semi-final top three. Performing second last is also a good place to be, with almost 80% of songs making it from there. It seems that being one of the last two to perform means you really stick in people’s minds when the voting comes around, so it’s certainly the best spot to get. Going further back, performing third/fourth from the end (not including songs which preceded or followed a commercial) shows that chances begin to fall a little. Third from last has a success rate of 70%, whereas fourth from last has never made it to the final (again, to be clear, this ignores songs which were either side of a commercial).

Even performing last couldn’t quite get them into the final – Eurovision.tv

Before the commercial breaks in the show, well this is an interesting area. Since 2010, we’ve always had one after the fifth song, but the second break has varied a little depending on the total number of songs, but always falling between after 12th and 14th. It’s an interesting picture! Before the first commercial break (5th in the running order) is not a good place to be again; only 43% of songs have made it from there. Having said that, being before the second commercial break (12th/13th/14th in the running order) is a great place to be as almost 80% of entries have made it from there. Oddly, coming after the first break is a good place to be with over 70% of entries making it from there, but only 50% make it straight after the second. The weirdest thing is that, overall, taking both breaks as equal gives a 61% chance of success whether before or after the break! This is basically saying that it makes no difference overall to be either side of a commercial break, although it seems to be best to be either after the first or before the second.

So finally to absolute position; the easiest thing to track! This is always the first thing people look at when deciding whether an entry has been favoured or disadvantaged by the draw and with good reason. As we’ve already seen, coming in the first few entries is quite obviously a disadvantage, whereas closing the show means you’re almost certain to make it! However, there is one problem. The semi-final length varies year on year, so it’s towards the end of the show, the significance of the placing varies. For example, 16th can be the final song, or second last or third last even; and as we’ve seen, this has a large impact on a song’s chances of success. Basically, the later in the show you go, the less relevant the number of songs before you becomes, and the importance of the number of songs following you increases. As a result, the following graphs have been created by taking the first 11 places in running order position, but the final 7/8 are taken counting backwards (so 19th is all the songs which performed last in the semi etc.) This means some songs are counted twice, but it gives a better picture of songs’ chances!

Semi Final 1Semi Final 2

So let’s consider for a moment what this means for this year’s contest! One slight complication this year is that we don’t yet know when the commercial breaks will be. One assumes that the first will be after the fifth song, so good news for our sixth placed songs (Romania and Montenegro), but it’s not looking so good for Belgium and Malta. In the first semi, the second break will probably be after either the 13th song (Iceland) or the 14th song (Czech Republic). Czech Republic is in a great spot in 14th, but if this could be neutered a little if they are following the break. Australia (3rd), Poland (11th) and Cyprus (15th) will all be a little worried about their chances, but Slovenia and Latvia will be happy about closing out the show. In the second semi, the break will either be after Norway or Switzerland. If it’s after Switzerland it’ll be interesting to see if Belarus follows the pattern of songs following the second break (50% chance of making it) or songs five from the end (86% chance). Russia (3rd), San Marino (11th) and Bulgaria may have concerns about their chances, but Estonia and Israel should be more confident. Of course, running order is far from the only factor determining how well a song will do, but it’s interesting to see if the patterns of previous years are repeated this year! If we go on running order chances alone, then we’d expect the following qualifiers:

So I may say “I told you so” if Ireland unexpectedly qualify or if Australia surprisingly miss out: the running order told you so!

Does running order really matter that much, or is it all needlessly over-analysed? What do #YOU think? Share your thoughts with us below or on our forum!

Featured Image credit; Eurovision Ireland

]]>Listen: Sanja’s new song Genesishttp://escunited.com/2017/03/20/listen-sanjas-new-song-genesis/
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 20:37:31 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=28419Last year she rocked the stage representing Serbia and you could feel her wild energy watching her every step she made in Stockholm.

Sanja Vučić has released a brand new song today and it is totally different than her Eurovision entry.

The Maltese Pop queen, Ira Losco, whom represented the island nation in 2002 & 2016, has released the music video for her latest single “We are the Soldiers”.

This single talks about overcoming difficulties of life. Infact this music video features Amy Camilleri who is a meningitis survivor, Charlene Mercieca, the presenter of the last edition of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest, who survived cancer, Karl Abela, a visually impaired track athlete and Julian Bajada, Para-athlete.

Barei, the Spanish representative for last year’s Eurovision Song Contest competition has released a new single called “I don’t need to be you”

This single also started a new anti-bullying campaign which Barei has started. The single talks about the fight against all type of form of Bullying, sexual discrimination and also racism, who many suffer at school, place of work and even in our family.

Joining Barei in this project are the dance group Kids on the block, whom were the protagonists of dance reality show “El baile de Los Ángeles”.

“I don’t need to be you” is the first single of her upcoming new album which is expected to be released in the next upcoming months.

You can listen to Barei’s new single “I don’t need to be you” in this link below:

]]>The biggest shock of Melfest 2017? It’s not quite what you think…http://escunited.com/2017/02/28/the-biggest-shock-of-melfest-2017-its-not-quite-what-you-think/
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 21:17:14 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=27812This editorial is written from the opinion of the author and does not represent the views of the other editors, the EBU or escYOUnited as a whole.

As the semi finals of Melodifestivalen close for another year, most Eurovision fans’ thoughts turn to the “Andra Chansen” (AC) round where, surprisingly, Loreen, the Eurovision winner from 2012, will be battling to make the final this year. Many people were really shocked to see that she didn’t make the final with her song “Statements” given her previous success for Sweden. I was also shocked, but for a different reason: Songs performing seventh have nearly always made the final. In fact, since the current format was introduced in 2015 (seven song semi finals with two going to AC and two direct to the final), no song has been knocked out after closing the show. Looking deeper, it becomes clear that a song’s place in the running order has a very big influence on its chances of success. Before going into this, however, it must be pointed out that I’m well aware of the running order being planned and obviously this has an influence on what songs go where. I’m merely highlighting the result of this and hopefully pointing out what results are “expected” based on running order alone! So without further ado, let’s dive straight in!

The above table shows the percentage chance of each result for each place in the running order from the last three years of Melodifestivalen. The “average” column shows what the figures would be if running order place had no impact on a song’s chances of success. Quick side note at this point: I’ve counted Anna Book’s disqualification as a “DNQ” to make the numbers round up properly. So to make things easier, I’ve split up the 7 places into four categories.

“We’re not sure what’ll happen with this” (1st/5th/6th):

So with an equal chance of making the final, making AC or not qualifying, it seems that being placed 1st, 5th and 6th doesn’t really have a massive impact on your entry’s chances. Obviously, they are a slight improvement on the average results, with a slightly greater chance of progressing in the competition, but it’s clear that being ordered in one of these three places leaves an entry with all options open. If the running order is strongly predetermined to put the hyped/expected to do well songs in the same places, it’s clear that these are used for the songs on which they are unsure. Opening the show can mean you have an advantage as everyone will be paying attention, but also risks leaving the song totally forgotten by the time voting actually opens. Ellen Benediktson with “Insomnia” in 2015 was most likely a victim of this, as the song was overshadowed by songs later in the running order and she lost out and came fifth in the semi. Interestingly, the last three songs opening the show in 2017 were all ones which made it directly to the final; perhaps attitudes are changing to which song is placed first. Performing fifth or sixth, however, seems to suffer more as because they are treated as warmup for the big closing song; something which likely happened to Annika Herlitz in 2015 as she was on just before Måns with his Eurovision winning “Heroes”. If next year, your favourite is performing 1st/5th/6th, I wouldn’t panic hugely about their chances, but nor is their success guaranteed!

Annika who? When’s Måns coming on?! – SVT/YouTube

“This will probably fail” (3rd/4th):

3rd and 4th are the slots for the songs that the organisers kind of expect to fail it seems. Only song has qualified from each position in the last three years (JTR in 2015 from 3rd and Wiktoria this year from 4th) whereas over half the songs from these two spots have gone out of the competition at this stage. These slots in the middle of show are after the initial excitement has finished and people are settling down for the rest of the songs and it’s possible they just get lost in and among. Success seems hard to come by for these songs. If your favourite is third or fourth in the running order, be concerned! Although don’t be as concerned as if they are second…

Wiktoria: The only act qualifying to the final from 4th – SVT

“This is doomed. Doomed I tell you! DOOOMED” (2nd):

There is a pretty much universal acknowledgement among Eurovision fans that second is a cursed spot. It’s just after the opening act and everyone probably spends the first half of the next song discussing it. Obviously the opening song is the one we all expect to be big and exciting to grab the viewers’ attention, so it’s always going to be a difficult job to follow. It’s clear that the powers-that-be at SVT agree and rarely bother trying as no song has made the final from this position! In fact, only one (Dolly Style with “Rollercoaster” in 2016) has even got to AC, and they didn’t make the final from there. It’s quite an incredible record really. 11 of the 12 songs performing second have gone no further in the competition. It seems that SVT put the song they really feel has no chance in this position and let it sink almost without trace in the contest. If your favourite is second in the running order, I’d get preparing the tissues for their non-qualification ready well in advance…

The most successful act from 2nd… Made it all the way to AC – SVT

“This is the one” (7th):

Up until the third semi of 2017’s Melodifestivalen, every single song performing seventh had made the final; an incredible run! Performing last does seem to be a serious advantage for a song, as it is the final one viewers hear before voting and so has the chance to make a major impression on them. However, in the third semi final this year, FO&O went to AC. Major shock! No other song since this format was introduced has failed to qualify for the final. Then, much to the shock of most, Loreen also ended up in AC in the fourth semi. If either fails to make it out of AC, then they would be the first song given the last place slot to not make the final! Apart from these two, it has proven an excellent place from which to perform. It seems that this is the place to be if you want to make the final and SVT use it as such to showcase what they feel is the best entry of the semi. If your favourite is the closing act, then you should be pretty confident of success!

So that’s how the numbers play out! As a final thought, let’s have a look at how the show is anticipated to pan out in the minds of SVT based on songs’ success rates. It’s clear that 7th is expected to be a finalist and 2nd to not qualify. 3rd and 4th are generally the other two non-qualifiers, which leaves us with 1st, 5th and 6th. From these, I’d say that 1st is generally expected to do well, especially this year, as of the four songs which went to AC from there, three qualified and we’re waiting to see what Boris René can do this year! So has there been a semi where 1st and 7th have gone directly to the final, and 5th and 6th to AC? Well yes, there has; the second semi this year! In way then, this could be said to be the “typical” result from Melodifestivalen. So there you have it for next year; assuming that the format remains the same, place your bets on 1st and 7th making the final and 5th/6th going to AC!

Is running order everything, or would the songs do just as well anywhere? What do #YOU think? Share your thoughts with us below or on our forum!

Featured Image credit: Smålandsposten

]]>A Little Bit of English In My Songhttp://escunited.com/2017/02/26/a-little-bit-of-english-in-my-song/
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 18:31:49 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=27655This editorial is written from the opinion of the author and does not represent the views of the other editors, the EBU or escYOUnited as a whole.

After reaching their best result since 2002 with Amir and “J’ai cherché” in Stockholm, France have certainly found an entry which looks likely to challenge for another top 10 placing in May with Alma and her song “Requiem”. Originally released just in French, it didn’t take long for rumours to start coming that she was considering including some English lyrics as well. This was confirmed to be the case earlier this week when Alma revealed that the song would feature half a dozen lines in English. Ever since the relaxation of the language rule forcing countries to only enter songs sung in their native language in 1999, it seems that more and more entries have either been wholly or partly in English. Indeed, we only need to look at the winners of the contest to see the influence of English since 1999, with only one winner, Serbia’s “Molitva” in 2007, not featuring any English. Indeed, Jamala’s winning “1944” entry is the only other song since 1999 to feature a significant section in a language other than English. So it seems that to win the contest in the 21st Century, you need to dip into the Anglo-Saxon tongue.

But there’s a difference between a song designed to work in English, or in English and another language, and a song which is originally written for one language then has bits translated into English. A sort of “occasional English” if you will. Look at “J’ai cherché” for a brilliant example of a bilingual song. The verses build wonderfully in French and then the chorus bursts on you in a flash of English. There is a clear divide between the two languages and they complement each other in the different sections of the song (with the now infamous “yooooooooooou” connecting the two sections!) The song was written in two languages and it shows in its slick and smooth transitions between the two. A slightly different approach was taken by Italy last year with “No Degree Of Separation”, where the shorter section in English was used more as a crescendo with it appearing only for one short section in the song. Here we have a song originally in Italian slightly rewritten for the Eurovision stage, and whilst it feels clunkier, the use of the language change helps the song flow; almost like a linguistic key change for the grand finale.

The infamous “yoooooooooouuuuu” moment during the voting in 2016. Petra’s face says it all – SVT – UER

Of course, some countries go the whole way and get rid of their native language entirely once the song has been selected. Albania is particularly noteworthy for doing this, as the show they use for their selection, Festivali i Këngës, is entirely in Albanian but since 2014 they have translated the whole of the winning song into English. Sometimes this works (2015’s “I’m Alive” made the final in in a respectable 17th place), and sometimes it doesn’t (2016’s “Fairytale” failed to qualify and was generally regarded as having been ruined by the revamp and translation). But here, it’s not just the lyrics being changed; but also the song style and instrumentals at times as well. It allows the country more flexibility with the translation as well.

So back to “Requiem” and Alma’s “occasional English”. Alma announced via a live chat on Facebook what the lyrics were going to be and, well it was an interesting choice. For starters, only the six lines which form the second half of the chorus have been changed to English. It’s not a translation either, although this is generally the case due to the difficulties of getting the scansion to work well. It’s also an odd choice to go for a bilingual chorus. It is not clear yet whether this will apply to both instances of the chorus in the song, but the language change is not reflected in a change of mood or feel in the music of the song, unlike either France or Italy’s entries last year. Whilst it is somewhat difficult to judge given the lack of a full version with the English lyrics (at the time of writing!), the section just feels out of place. It almost seems that someone said “we need some English in here” and just found a section which they could change, as opposed to improving the song through the addition of a second language. Possibly they were taking their inspiration from the number of English winners of the contest, or maybe just trying to make the song more accessible across the continent given the prevalence of English as a second language, but it doesn’t feel as if it was done to make the song itself a better song. It feels forced upon it. Maybe with a full bilingual version it will fit in more seamlessly, but for now, it seems that it’s damaging the song itself in an attempt to make it easier to understand. For now though, it seems that the fans are divided with some happy that the majority of Europeans will understand at least part of the song, but with others feeling that the translation is unnecessary and spoils it.

Vive le français, or keep the English coming? What do #YOU think? Share your thoughts with us below or on our forum!